Helene's been to BrumJam!

Watching the opening ceremony, Chris Hoy with the flag

 

Helene arrived the Friday before we went off on camp, hand-delivered by the postman! She really enjoyed the Olympics opening ceremony on the TV, and was a great help on the Saturday, with the shopping for camp.

As soon as we arrived at BrumJam (an international jamboree camp in Birmingham) we were busy doing exciting activities. Our first day was Skills - as part of one of the zones, some of our Guides needed to design and make a gadget all within 30 minutes.  Helene joined this group and helped them design and make our new camp couch. They made it really well and all managed to sit on it, though Helene tested it first as she was the lightest!





Check out our gadget!

 

On the Monday we had our subcamp day and ate breakfast at a different camp with people we did not know. We all enjoyed making new friends.

After breakfast we joined in the mini-Olympics which was full of fun games like sponge throwing and spent the afternoon trying food, playing games and doing crafts with other groups on the subcamp, before watching BrumJam’s Got Talent. Though our group entered a fantastic dance unfortunately we didn’t get through to the big finale - Helene thinks we cheered the loudest though!



Visiting friends for breakfast

 

The next day was all about fun in the water. Our group built a fabulous raft with Helene's help, but  she did not fancy going out on the water as the waves were nearly as big as her! The Guides were very brave though. After lunch our group went canoeing, but as the waves were still quite large we tied the canoes together to make them more stable. Helene once more decided that staying inside with the other Leaders was a better option than taking to the water.

After raft making waiting to get on the water

 

The Thursday was an early start but nobody moaned as it was off to Alton Towers with our Subcamp. Woohoo! The braver members of the group did the big rides such as Nemesis, Air and Oblivion and the others did the less stomach churning rides like Ice Age 4, Rapids and Battle Galleons.

We all had a sleep on the way home from Alton Towers ready for the Subcamp campfire in the evening. Helene enjoyed the songs and skits, some of which we did not know and enjoyed sitting by the fire keeping warm.

Friday and the last day of camp was our Blackwell Adventure day. We were split into groups and each given four activities for the day. Helene’s group started with archery, followed by crate stacking where Helene had a go and managed 5 crates with some of the Guides. After lunch we did the 3G swing and then a tree top trek.

Kieran took Helene with him as she was too small for the harness, he instead tucked her into his hoodie so she could enjoy the views of camp as well!

Woah!

After dinner we all headed off to the closing ceremony where we watched the BrumJam flag lowered and all voted for our favourite ‘BrumJam’s got Talent’ act and our subcamp, Hercules, won! We had a few speeches and then a final disco to finish the night off.

Helene and all the Guides had a fabulous time - exhausting but a brilliant adventure!

Helene looking tired and ready for a nap after all the excitement :o)

P.S. If you're interested in finding out more about international camps, keeping checking back here or find out what's going on in your Country/Region